


Out With The Old

by peepmywriting



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bottom Steve Rogers, Eye Sex, F/M, Hair-pulling, Heartbeat Kink, Light BDSM, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Avengers (2012), Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Spanking, Top Bucky Barnes, Virgin Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-04-23 11:23:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14331405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peepmywriting/pseuds/peepmywriting
Summary: Isadora works for SHIELD. When something goes wrong at the facility holing Project Pegasus, she is thrown into a new world. She finds out something about herself and even a soulmate. She has a soulmate and a new family member and Loki seems to find her way too interesting for it to be normal.





	1. Prologue

**Everybody**  had a soulmate. Someone to be whoever you need them to be. Someone to love you regardless of anything. Someone who can make you mad but then make you happy. Someone who knows your guilty pleasures, things that make you tick. Someone who can tell when you have something on your mind. Isadora knew all about soulmates. She'd researched it all throughout her life, finding new things about it. Being twenty-four and an active agent of SHIELD, she found out a lot of things. Especially the fact that she didn't have one, or a soulmark of any kind. 

Your soulmark was the first word or phrase your soulmate would say to you. They were tattooed or engraved in the first place your soulmate would touch you. Some agents Isadora knew had soulmarks on their wrists, legs, buttocks, or even their faces. It was just how fate would have it.


	2. Trouble

**Recon**  mission around an enemy facility, watching for anything suspicious. She wished for something to happen as she was bored out of her mind.

God seemed to answer all of her prayers because, at that time, her talkie chirped.

"Canary, touch back to base. Project Pegasus has been compromised." Agent Hill said.

She sighed, sending back a simple reply before thrusting out his arms and taking flight. She met up with the SHIELD helicopter taking Director Fury and Agent Hill to the facility that operated Project Pegasus. As soon as they landed, Fury and Hill stepped out the helicopter and walked to Coulson.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked.

"That's the problem, sir, we don't know," Coulson answered.

Isadora/Canary landed, following the rest of them into the facility and into the elevator. As they made their way through the laboratory, Canary looked around.

"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," Coulson said.

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to go to test phase." Fury said.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous event." Coulson said.

"It just turned itself on?" Canary finally spoke.

"Where are the energy levels now?" Fury asked.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac." Coulson said.

"how long to get everyone out?" Fury asked.

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour," Coulson said.

" Do better." Fury commanded.

With that, Coulson turned back to get everyone out of the laboratory. Canary, Fury, and Hill continued on their journey to the lab.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile," Hill spoke up.

'We should just tell them to go back to sleep?"

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance," Canary said.

"I need you to make sure those phase 2 prototypes are shipped out." Fury said to Hill.

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Hill asked.

Fury stopped himself on the stairs. "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of phase 2 on a truck and gone." he said, walking forward.

Canary followed Fury as Hill walked off with a few agents, mumbling a yes sir under her breath.

They made their way into the lab. "Talk to me, doctor." Fury yelled to Selvig.

"Director." the doctor said, stepping off a platform that was under a stand that held a bright blue cube (the Tesseract).

"Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asked.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig said as another scientist poked at the cube with a stick.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asked.

"No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's...behaving."

"I assume you pulled the plug."

"She's an energy source, we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level --"

"We prepared for this doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"But we don't have the harness.My calculations are far from complete and she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

Both Fury and Canary's heads turned towards the doctor.

"That can be harmful," she said.

"Where's Agent Barton?" Fury asked.

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual." Selvig said, pointing upwards.

Canary's heightened senses picked up on Barton almost immediately, his smell the most distinct of all.

"Agent Barton, report." Fury commanded.

Barton made his way down a rope and walked with Fury and Canary, who walked behind them.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Fury said to him.

"Well, I see better from a distance," Barton replied.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked him.

As soon as those words left his mouth, a searing pain set itself off on Canary's shoulder. It traveled from her neck to the end of her shoulder and she almost screamed. Barton heard her sharp intake of breath and he turned to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She pointed to her shoulder quickly before sliding her arm out of her power suit. Barton sucked in a breath slightly as he saw the words engraving themselves on her shoulders.

'You look familiar'.

Canary gasped when she saw the words as well and felt a surge of happiness as well as sorrow. She knew she would never find her soulmate.

"We won't talk of this," she said, poking Barton in the chest.

He nodded as she slipped her arm back into the suit.

"Doctor, it's spiking again." Another doctor said.

"No one's come or gone. And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IMs. If there was any tampering sir, it wasn't at this end." he said.

"At this end?' Fury asked.

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Door open on both sides." Barton answered.

"Not yet," Selvig said.

The Tesseract surged, sending out small bursts of energy. The whole facility shook and Canary floated off the ground for fear of falling. The Tesseract surged again, sending out more energy.

Canary floated more towards Barton and Fury so she could throw a shield around them if need be. Selvig and the other doctor stared at a monitor and then back to the Tesseract.

The Tesseract started to pulse and the bursts of energy around it started to swirl in a circle, building until it shot out a beam towards a platform. A portal-like hole began to form. It opened wide and they could see stars inside the hold. it pulsed, then exploded, sending out a bright blast of energy that slightly surged through everyone. Canary felt stronger at that and her eyes glowed blue.

There was a blue fire for a second but went out quickly as a figure stood up. The dark figure stood on the platform and was slowly rising. It was revealed as a man wearing green clothes and had raven black hair that was slicked back, cascading down his neck. He wore a devilish grin and his eyes shimmered maliciously. Men with guns moved towards him slowly. Everyone gasped, scared as they stared at him, the men still advancing.

"Sir, please put down the spear." Fury said calmly.

The man looked at his spear and the back to Fury for a split second before thrusting his spear out. It let out a bright blue light and blasted towards Fury. Barton moved them out of the way as the men with guns started shooting. The man leaped off the platform and stabbed one of the men in the heart with his spear before sending a dagger through another's neck. He sent a blast toward the doctor, knocking her down. He stabbed at another man, sending him down. Barton got up, grabbing a gun and shooting at the men. A bullet hit him ad he reacted, shooting another blast from his spear. It shot toward Barton but he rolled out of the way. Canary shot blasts of fire at the man but he quickly intercepted them, sending a blast of energy her way knocking her down. She felt overpowered and she couldn't move, paralyzed.

The man knocked down another man, sending into a wall. He stopped, preparing himself for another attack but everyone was down. Barton tried to climb away but the man walked over to him, grabbing him up by his collar and held him tight.

"You have heart." the man said to him in an accent Canary couldn't quite place. The man took his spear and touch it to Barton's chest, right where his heart would be. Canary watched on as Barton's eyes turned black and then a vibrant blue (like the color of the Tesseract) and the man let him go, smirking. Barton stuck his gun in its holster and stepped back.

Fury watched the scene, hidden from view and then he pulled the Tesseract from its holder and slipped it into a briefcase. He shut it as the man put his scepter to another man's chest. Fury started to step away slowly and Canary started to get up.

"Please don't," the man said, turning around. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier." Fury said.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else." the man said.

Fury turned to him. "I am Loki, of Asgard and I am burdened with glorious purpose," he said. Selvig checked on the doctor because he wasn't hurt.

Canary slowly crept forward, careful not to catch the Hawk's eye.

"Loki, brother of Thor," Selvig said, standing up.

"We have no quarrel with your people." Fury said.

Canary noticed a blue light coming from the ceiling of the lab and looked up, noticing a ball of energy.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki commented.

"Are you planning to step on us?" Fury asked.

Canary had now moved behind the second agent Loki had turned.

"I come with glad tidings of a world made free," Loki answered, standing in front of Selvig.

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

The agent turned, grabbing Canary and holding her so she couldn't escape.

"Freedom," he answered. "Freedom is life's greatest life. Once you accept that, in your heart, --" Loki said, then turned around and thrust his spear towards Canary's heart.

It was blocked, by a buildup of ice she had protected her heart (pun intended). He tried again, but his spear tip was once again blocked by the ice. He growled and then turned, thrusting his spear unto Selvig's heart, turning his eyes bright blue.

"...You will know peace." Loki finished.

"Yeah, you say "peace", I kinda think you mean the other thing." Fury said.

Barton gave up, walking over to Loki. "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us." he said.

"Like the pharaohs of old." Fury said.

"He's right. The portal's collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minuted before this place goes critical." Selvig said.

Loki turned to Barton, "Well then."

Barton took the hint and shot at Fury, hitting him directly in the chest, sending him backward.

Canary whined and pulled herself of-of the agent's grip and high kicked Loki in the face, sending him to the ground. Barton charged her, and she engaged, knocking him down to the ground within seconds. The second agent shot at her and she blocked the bullet with a burst of air and sent a fire wave hurtling toward him. As she turned, she felt a sudden searing pain through her back, white hot. She turned fully and Loki pulled his spear out of her back and she fell.

Barton and the group walked away, grabbing the suitcase as he passed by the fallen Fury on their way to the garages.

"I need these vehicles," Barton said to Agent Hill.

She turned to him quizzically. She scrutinized Loki, wondering about him.

"Who's that?" she asked as Loki got into the back of a Jeep.

"They didn't tell me." Barton lied.

The structure crumbled as Hill turned around to finish sending the shipments off. Her talkie screeched and Loki jumped slightly. "HILL!"

"Do you copy?" Fury said, his voice breaking as Canary pulled out the bullet in his vest. Hill kept walking.

"Barton has turned." Fury said.

Barton turned and shot at hill but missed as she moved out of the way quickly.

He shot again and crouched before he got into the SHIELD marked Jeep. He quickly drove away. Another car followed Hill shot at them again. The portal started to get bigger and Fury led Canary out of the lab. "They have the Tesseract! Shut them down!" he yelled through the talkie as the air picked up.

Canary stopped and froze over her wound so that she wouldn't bleed out.

Hill got into another Jeep and drove off, quickly following them.

Loki watched as another car started to shoot at their Jeep. He prepped another blast and shot it at the car, knocking it into the road.

Fury and Canary made their way out, escaping things that were falling. The facility shook some more as Coulson tried to get everyone out.

Hill followed Barton's Jeep, changing the shift as she sped up, skidding in front of them and hitting them head-on. Barton pushed her out and she picked up her gun, shooting through the windshield. Barton shot out the window, one hand on the steering wheel.

Coulson and other agents scrambled into a car.

"We're clear upstairs, sir. You need to go." Coulson said.

Fury and canary made their way into a helicopter as the ground under their feet crumbled.

Barton and Hill continued to shoot at each other when Barton rammed Hill's Jeep, making her swerve a little and turn around. She ended up behind them, trying to move fast.

The ground crumbled more and the blue light underground flicker out, and then exploded outwards, sending blue light everywhere. The facility imploded, collapsing inwards. Small fires started around it. Fury and Canary watched on from the safety of their helicopter.

Hill and Barton raced to the exit as the rest of the lab started to fall around them. Rocks dropped around the Jeep and Hill knew she was gonna be trapped. Coulson watched the damage from his car.

Hill's Jeep raced on as a means to escape but a boulder thwarted her plans and crashed in front of her, leaving her trapped.

Barton's jeep raced out, traveling to an unknown location. Fury's helicopter hovered above the Jeep and he slid his door open, shooting at them. Canary rose from her seat, sending ice bullets hurtling towards them.

Loki got exasperated and let out yet another blast from his spear and sent it to the helicopter, sending it spiraling in the sky. Canary jumped out and went to get Fury but was knocked down by a volatile rotor blade.

Fury had jumped out, hitting the ground farther away from the now crashed copter. He shot at the Jeep some more as it made its way onto the road.

"I don't think I like that guy very much." Canary joked.

Fury looked at her and rolled his eye.

"Director? Director Fury, do you copy?" Coulson's voice sounded through Fury's talkie.

"The Tesseract is with a hostile force. I have men down. Hill?" Fury answered.

"A lot of men still under. I don't know how many survivors." Hill said, climbing out from under the seats.

"Sound a general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for the briefcase." Fury said.

"Roger that." Hill answered.

"Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war." Fury said.

"What do we do?" Coulson asked.

**((A/N: CUE THE FIRST AVENGERS THEME!))**


	3. Reconnecting

**Canary** listened as Coulson dialed a number. They answered quickly.  
"Hello?"

"I need to speak with the woman," Coulson said.

"It's for her." she heard the man say.

A man started to speak in Russian but was cut off.  
"You're at 1-14 Silensky Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an f-22 exactly eight miles out. Put the woman on the phone, or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby." Coulson said.

Canary chuckled silently at his bluntness. There was a shuffle before Natasha answered.

"We need you to come in," Coulson said.

"Are you kidding? I'm working," she said.

"This takes precedence."

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation. This moron is giving me everything," she said.

"I do not give everything." someone said in the background

"Look, you can't pull me out of this right now," Natasha explained.

Canary got tired and cut in. "Nat...Barton's been compromised," she said.

A second passed. "Let me put you on hold."

Sounds of a struggle started (all male grunts) as they listened. After they finished, a slightly out of breath Natasha answered.

"Where's Barton now?" she asked.

"We don't know," Coulson answered.

"But he's alive?"

"We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."

"Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me."

"Isadora and I have Stark. You get the big guy." Isadora/Canary pointed to herself.

After they hung up, Coulson turned to her.  
"Fury said that now is the best time to tell you since you're old enough for it."

A look of confusion spread across Isadora's features. "What is it?" she asked.

"follow me to the interrogationrooms please," he said and walked off.

She followed him to interrogation room three. He opened the door for her and she walked in, sitting down in a chair. Coulson walked in a few minutes after her, holding a file. He sat it down and stood in a dark corner. Isadora grabbed the file, opening it up. The whole paper had been updated because she saw new things that were added or deleted. 

_Agent: Stark, Isadora Camille_

_Last Known Address: S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier_

_D.O.B: 10/6/1992_

_Status: Active-Agent_

_SNN No.: CLASSIFIED_

_Document Citizenship: United States_

_Title: Agent_

_Place of Birth: Southern Air Temple_

_Race: Caucasian_

_Height: 5'4"_

_Weight: 147 LBS_

_Gender: Female_

_Hair: Auburn_

_Dental: None_

_Eyes: Blue_

_Languages: English, Russian, Latin, German, Italian, French, Mandarin, Arabic, and more_

_Identifiable Markings: Soulmark on left shoulder words, 'You look familiar'_

_Family: Anthony Stark (Father), Mother Unknown, No Known Siblings_

_Education: Unknown; 8 majors in college_

_Current Employment: SHIELD Agent_

_Alias(es): Canary, Raven, Izzy, Camilla Summers, Mini Stark (new)_

_Missions Completed: 1,547_

_Mission Qualifications: Elemental, Enhanced Senses, Flight, Highly trained in hand-to-hand combat, weapons combat, skilled seductress._

Isadora gasped at the new information, namely the fact that her father's name was written on a line that had always read unknown. 

"Tony S-Stark's my father?" she asked, stuttering.

Tears welled in her eyes at Coulson's response. "Yes."

"Phil! How could you let them keep this from me? I thought we were better than that! You know how I felt about this." she said.

"Fury said that it was better this way. I had to keep it a secret." Coulson answered, seemingly unbothered. 

"I don't give a fuck what Fury said! You kept this a secret from me. Does Stark even know?" she asked. Coulson looked down at his shoes.

"Mr. Stark thought that if the world knew he was a hero and a new father, then things would change for the both of you so he begged us to keep it a secret," Coulson said. 

"So then why are you telling me now? Because I'm old enough?" she asked. 

"No. Because Mr. Stark felt that it was right to tell you now." Coulson answered, opening the door to the room. 

"We leave in ten," he said and left. 

Isadora sat staring at the line she knew was gonna change her life for better or worse. She had a father, he'd known about her the whole time. She was not just another waste of space orphan. She was somebody.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I got Rogers in. Let me know when you got Stark on board." Fury said through the phone.

"Got it," Isadora said. 

Coulson and Isadora stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to Stark's penthouse. Coulson dialed Stark's number, ending up with Jarvis answering. 

"He's not in right now." his voice said. 

"Tell him it's important," Coulson said. 

The A.I answered with the same thing. 

"Give me the phone," Isadora said. 

Coulson handed her the phone and she quickly overrode Jarvis' protocols. 

"Mr. Stark we need to talk," Coulson said. 

"You have reached the life mode decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message." Stark said. 

"This is urgent," Coulson replied. 

"Then leave it urgently."

Isadora willed the doors to open and Coulson and she stepped through. 

"Security Breach. It's on you." Stark said to his assistant and girlfriend, Pepper Potts.

"Mr. Stark," Coulson said. 

"Phil! Come in." Pepper said. 

"Phil?" Stark asked under his breath. 

Isadora looked him over, scanning for his features that seemed to match hers. They had the hair, skin tone, and nose to match. 

"I can't stay long." Phil Coulson said. 

"Uh, two things. His first name is 'Agent' and does she know yet?" Stark said, walking up behind Pepper and gesturing toward Isadora.

Coulson nodded slightly. 

"Come on in. We're celebrating." Pepper said warmly. 

"Which is why they can't stay." Stark smiled. 

"We need you to look this over as soon as possible," Coulson said, holding the folder out to Tony. 

"I don't like being handed things," he said. 

"That's fine because I love being handed things. Here, we can trade." Pepper said, taking the folder from Coulson, handing him her champagne, giving the folder to Tony and taking his champagne.

Isadora silently snorted, laughing at her antics. Coulson handed her the champagne and she swirled it around before tilting it to her lips and downing it. Noticing everyone's (except Coulson) weird looks, she simply stated, "Rough night."

"Well, help yourself to some more, Isadora," Pepper said, motioning to the couches.

She gladly accepted, plopping down and helping herself to another glass.

Pepper and Isadora had been close for a while, she'd met Pepper when she met Phil Coulson. Pepper had instantly taken a liking to her, seeing something or someone in her that was familiar. 

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," Stark said. 

"This isn't a consultation," Coulson said. 

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked. "...which I know nothing about." she covered up as soon as she'd realized what she'd said. 

"The Avengers initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." Stark said, walking over to his desk.

"I didn't know that either." Pepper lied. 

"Apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others," Stark said, Isadora and Pepper hummed in agreement. 

"That I did know," Pepper said.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson said. 

"Whatever. Ms. Potts, got a second?" Stark asked, standing at his desk, looking at the electronic folder. 

Pepper went over to him and Isadora motioned to Coulson. 

"Phil, you're like my father. I don't think I can accept anyone else. Plus, he's right, he is super self-absorbed and hasn't said anything to me since we came in. I'm scared." she whispered quickly to him.

"Relax, I have a plan," Coulson whispered back to her as Pepper and Tony pulled away from a kiss. 

Tony turned back to the projected information and inspected it. Pepper and Coulson started to leave and Isadora started to get up and leave with them but was blocked by Coulson and Pepper quickly hit the button, wiggling her fingers at Isadora as the door shut. 

She sighed, laying her head on the elevator door. Her heart pounded as she brought up the courage to address her father. 

"Mr. Stark, I --" she started.

"There's honestly no need, Izzy. You're not the one at fault here, I am." Tony said, looking away from his homework. 

"But Mr. Stark --" she started again, only to be cut off again. 

"Look, I don't want you to explain anything," he said. "And please don't call me Mr. Stark, I'm your father. Call me Tony," he said, walking over to her. 

She nodded, urging him to go on. 

"I should've kept you, Isadora. You're my daughter, hell you've got all my features. But I was so focused on my growing career and my playboy lifestyle, I didn't think it would have been good for you. You're grown now and you look so much like your mother. You've joined SHIELD, which I don't approve of, and got out to see the world. I'm proud of you, Izzy." he said. 

Tears pricked Isadora's eyes and she tried hard not to cry as her heart swelled. 

"Mr. Sta -- erm...Tony, for my whole life, I've been wanting to hear someone say those three words. That's why I put myself through college, that's why I have 8 masters degrees in multiple fields of science and engineering, because I've always wanted someone to be proud of me, I don't care that you weren't in my life, I'm grateful to have you here now." she replied and le the tears roll down her face. 

Jarvis chose this time to speak up. "Mr. Stark, Director Fury is requesting you examine that folder immediately," he said, effectively scaring her. 

Her senses were dulled by the alcohol so she wasn't exactly on her game. 

"I will soon Jarvis. Thank you." Tony said, rolling his eyes. 

Jarvis' voice said no more. 

"I wasn't always out of your life," Tony said. 

Isadora wiped her tears. "What do you mean?"

"The bracelet on your wrist, one of those charms is a camera. I sent it to you on your 5th birthday." Tony stated. 

Isadora inspected the charms hanging from her bracelet. One especially glinted and she knew it was that one. "So you've been watching me this whole time?" she asked. 

"Always watching, I prevented a lot of bad things from happening to you," he said. 

Isadora took the time to think back to how peaceful her life was, how even though she lived the life of an orphan, she never ended up in sucky foster homes, she was always loved by her foster parents. 

"I guess I should thank you then," she said.

 "You're my daughter and despite my idiot decisions, I love you," he said. 

"Would it be okay to hug you?" she asked.

He nodded and extended his arms towards her. She ran to him and embraced him. She held her father for a moment, listening to the dull hum of the arc reactor in his chest and then let go. 

Tony noticed how she swayed and he stepped in time to catch her as she passed out.

 

** _((A/N: The Avengers assemble next chapter, you guys ready?))_ **


	4. Rendezvouz

When she woke up, Isadora was staring at a ceiling. It was unfamiliar though, the ceiling in her room on the SHIELD helicarrier was a different color. 

"Ms. Stark, your father has requested you get changed and come to the kitchen, he has things to discuss with you," Jarvis said, his appearance scaring her. 

"Thank you, Jarvis but I don't have any clothes," she said. 

"Mr. Stark had clothes stocked in your bedroom," Jarvis said. 

"My room?"

"Yes, the door at the end of the hallway."

She stood up and went to the door, opening it and peering into the hallway. Sure enough, there was a door at the end of the hallway with a sign on it. 'Isadora Stark'. She smiled at her last name and walked to the door. She opened it and was filled with awe. 

The room was painted a burgundy color with the trimmings a pearly white. The floor was a nice burgundy carpet. A queen-sized bed sat in the middle of the room, the blanket and pillowcases a mix of burgundy and white. The closet was on the left end of the room and she swiftly walked to it. There was an electronic wall panel next to them. The doors of the closet had a monogrammed Stark 'S' on them. She tapped the wall panel, bringing it to life, 

“and a catalog appeared, asking her what she wanted to wear. 

She scrolled through the list and pictures ad finally found something she was comfortable in. 

The closet spurred and then soon after, the doors opened, revealing the outfit she chose. Black leggings, white and black striped crop top, Adidas slides, black socks, topped off with a cream-colored cardigan. 

Isadora walked to the bathroom on the right side of the room, directly across from the closet. She closed the door and immediately started peeling off her clothes. There was a full-length mirror on the back of the door that she stood in front of for a minute. Isadora inspected her body, head to toe. Bruises and scars scattered along her body, some old, some new. She ran her fingers along the old scars, feeling the ridges that were embedded. The scepter wound in her back had cleared up, becoming a small pink scratch. 

After her shower, she walked out of her bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. There was a box sitting on her bed, sitting perfectly with a bow on top of it. She walked over it, carefully inspecting it. 

She slowly pulled apart the bow, deciding to use it for her hair, and opened the box. Inside the box was a beautiful Rolex. It was chocolate colored and encrusted with diamonds. It was definitely more than 14 karats.

Out of the top of the box fell a card. It had a few words on it. 

'For all the time I missed out on.' 

Tears streamed down her face and she smiled at the joke. After she got dressed, she walked out of the room. 

"Jarvis?" She called

"How can I help you, Ms. Stark?" 

"Could you please navigate me to the kitchen?"

Jarvis proceeded to tell her how to to get to the kitchen. 

Tony sat in the kitchen at the table, staring down at a tablet. 

"Uh..." Isadora started, finding it difficult to form a sentence. 

"Izzy please, my penthouse is your penthouse. Help yourself to anything in my fridge." Tony said. 

With his permission, Isadora bounded to the refrigerator, her stomach rumbling. 

"Dad, can I cook for you?" she asked. 

Tony beamed at her calling him dad. It took him a second before he replied, "I don't usually eat breakfast, but I'm willing to eat something sweet and sugary." Tony answered.

"In that case, Jarvis can you play something off the Billboard charts?" Isadora asked. 

"Certainly, Ms. Stark," Jarvis answered. 

"You just told my A.I. what to do!" Tony said, freaked. 

After having cooked a batch of French Toast Sticks, Isadora served her father, sitting syrup next to his plate. 

"A daughter that can cook?" Tony exclaimed. 

"Culinary Arts was one of my eight majors," Isadora said. 

Tony smiled at her and bit into his food. He chewed it for a second and moaned at the taste. "This is amazing!" 

Isadora blushed, and shrugged her shoulders while digging into her food. 

"Do you like your room?" Tony asked. 

Isadora beamed. "I love it! It's perfect," she said. 

"Good, because it's permanent." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I would like for you to live with me. I checked your files, you live on the helicarrier. I would like for you to have a home when you're not off on missions." 

Isadora pondered his idea for a second. After finding no reason not to agree with it, she nodded.

"I'm cool with that," she said. 

Tony smiled at her, she responded with a smile. 

~~~~~~~~~

"Canary come in, we've got a target on Loki in Stuttgart, Germany," Hill said. 

"On my way," Isadora answered. 

"Dad, they've found Loki, I gotta get down there to help," she said. 

The duo had been sitting around in his garage, testing out different upgrades to his suit. 

"Sure thing, see ya kiddo. Be careful," he said. 

She ran to her room and pulled on her suit, making her way to the top of the tower. She jumped off and set her immediate flight to Germany. From Manhattan to Stuttgart took about 15 minutes. She caught up with a quiet and flew with it. Natasha looked over at her and smiled. She smiled back.

"...elder people. Let him be an example." Loki's words finished. 

At that second, Captain America shot out of the rear of the quintet. He landed in front of a man and hid himself and a man in front of him.

The blast refracted off of his shield and hit Loki. 

"Ahh!" he screeched. 

Isadora landed next to the Captain and stood proudly. 

"Ya know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Captain Rogers said. 

"The Soldier and the Canary. The Man out of Time and The Woman Lost in Time." Loki said, standing up. 

"I'm not the one who's out of time." 

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," Natasha said through the intercom on the quinjet. 

Loki shot a blast towards the jet but it moved out of the way. Captain threw his shield at Loki and it hit him and boomeranged back to him. 

Canary started to get all the people away from the fight and towards safety. The people scattered but she made a pathway to them as they screamed. 

Captain engaged Loki, punching him straight in the face. When he didn't react, he swung his shield at him, but Loki parried his strike and they engaged in scepter-to-shield combat. 

Loki hit the Captain and he fell, rolling and landing back on his knees.

Captain launched his shield at Loki but he knocked it out of the way. The Captain ran up to him and swung his fist but Loki dodged it, turning and swinging his scepter. He missed and the Captain punched him. He didn't react and Loki swung his scepter lower, hitting him in the back and knocking him over. 

The Captain went to get up but  Loki put the butt of his scepter on his head, holding him down. 

"Kneel," he whispered. 

The Captain grabbed the butt of the scepter and knocked it out of the way. 

"Not today!" he said, getting up and high kicking Loki in the face. 

Canary helped more people get out of the way and put up a force field around the fight so that no other humans would be stuck in there. 

"The guy's all over the place," Natasha said to her.

Loki picked up the Captain and threw him.

"Agent Romanoff. You miss me?" 

The PA system on the quinjet was overridden and AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill started to play. 

Isadora smiled, "I knew he would follow me." 

Loki and Captain Rogers paused in their fight and Isadora took down the force field. 

Iron Man landed out of the sky and shot at Loki, knocking him back into the stairs of a building. Iron Man held out his arms and weapons lined down them. His arc repulsors started up. 

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Iron Man said. 

The Captain and Canary walked up next to him and Canary made her hands steam. 

Loki's armor wore off and he held up his hands. 

"Good move." Iron Man said, as his weapons powered down. 

"Mr. Stark." Captain addressed. 

"Captain." Iron Man said. 

The quinjet landed and Canary handcuffed Loki and Natasha walked him to the quinjet. 

Canary stayed for a second. The Captain's voice sent chills down her spine. They make her deepest parts tingle. The few words he had spoken to her father made her melt. Her heart rate sped up, her face heated up, and her knees felt like Jello. 

She composed herself and got into the quinjet. 

"What? Don't feel like flying tonight?" Iron Man said. 

"I'm tired lol, that force field took a lot out of me, Dad," she said, pulling her hair out of its tight ponytail. 

"Did she just say lol?" Natasha asked. 

"Yes, indeed I did, Romanoff," she replied, sticking her tongue out at the redhead. 

The Captain stayed back, his features thoughtful. 

Why did Loki let up so easily? Why is his hair so long? Why did that woman say lol? What does lol mean? Why did that woman's words make my heart race and my body tingly? Why does she look so familiar?

Tony walked up to him, as the woman laid down on a seat and placed her arm over her eyes. Her simple actions dazzled him and he found that he couldn't look away.

"Is he saying anything?" Fury asked over the phone. 

"Not a word," Romanoff answered.

"Just get him here. We're low on time." Fury instructed. 

The Captain constructed himself. "I don't like it," he said to Stark. 

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark said.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Steve said. 

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow," Tony said, making Isadora laugh from her spot. "What's your thing, Pilates?"

"What?" Steve asked, confused and Isadora giggled again. 

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, doing time as a Capsicle." Tony joked. 

Isadora tried to control her giggles but failed. When Steve looked back at her, she quickly composed herself and put her arm back on her face.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve said. 

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," Tony said. 

Lightning struck, scaring the pants off of Isadora, she curled into a ball in her seat. She reached in between the cushions and pulled out her iPod. She put it on shuffle and placed her earbuds in, soothing her running nerves. 

Loki looked around scared.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Steve asked.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki responded. 

Thunder rumbled again and lightning sounded again. Isadora whimpered again and clutched herself tighter. 

Steve turned to her and stared intensely at her. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. When she jolted away, Steve retracted his hand.

Isadora immediately felt bad. She had jolted away due to the electric current she felt when Steve touched her shoulder, right where her soulmark was. Her skin tingled there but she couldn't exactly out and say it. 

"It's okay Izzy," Tony said. 

Suddenly there was a loud bang on top of the quinjet. Lighting struck worse and Steve and Tony started to suit up. Tony tapped Isadora's shoulder lightly and she glanced up at him. 

"Time to suit up, Izzy," he said, locking his helmet in place. 

Tony walked down the strip and pressed a button, opening the back hatch. The wind howled as Steve yelled, "what are you doing?"

When the hatch was fully let open, a man hopped onto it.

He looked around for a second, his gaze lingering on Isadora for longer than she would have liked. 

Tony stepped forward, his repulsors winding up and the man knocked him backward with his hammer. The man snatched Loki out of his seat by his neck and flew out of the quinjet.

Isadora flew after him, following him with no strategy in mind.  She turned her com on.

"And now there's that guy," Tony said. 

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha yelled over the wind. 

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve asked. 

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Tony said. 

"Stark, we need a plan of attack! Steve yelled. 

"I have a plan. Attack." Tony answered.

'I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha said. 

"I don't see how I can," he replied. 

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods." 

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." 

Isadora closed in on Thor, following him to the side of a cliff. She hid behind something so he wouldn't see her and crouched down. 

Loki groaned as Thor landed and dropped him to the ground rather forcefully. 

"Where is the Tesseract?" Thor's gravely voice asked. 

Loki chuckled, "I missed you, too." he said. 

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Thor yelled. 

"You should thank me," Loki said, getting up. "with the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster to conjure you here to your precious Earth?" Loki said. 

Thor dropped his hammer and ran up to Loki, picking him fully up and holding the back of his neck. 

"I thought you dead," Thor said. 

"Did you mourn?" Loki asked. 

"We all did. Our father..."

"Your father." Loki cut him off.

He smacked Thor's arms away. 

"He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

Loki walked off, passing Isadora but not seeing her. He clutched his back as he walked, feeling older than he was. 

"We were raised together. We played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?" Thor asked him. 

"I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I, who was, and should be, king!"

"So you take the world I love as a recompense for your imagined slights?"

Thor walked towards Loki, pointing an accusing finger at him. "No. The Earth is under my protection, Loki." 

Loki laughed. "And you're doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them, as for why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them?"

"Well, yes."

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. A throne would suit you ill."

Loki punched past Thor, moving back the way they came. 

"I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it..."

"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be king?" 

"I AM A KING!" 

"Not here!" Thor yelled, gripping Loki's shoulders. "You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!"

He pauses for a second before he continues. "You come home."

Loki seems to consider this for a second but then laughs at him. He shakes his head. 

"I don't have it," he says simply. 

Thor steps back, his anger surging through him, motioning for his hammer to come to him and wields it like he's about to swing. 

"You need the Cube to bring me home. But I've sent it off, I know not where." Loki says. 

Thor pauses, getting his rage in check. "You listen well, brother. I --" he is cut off by Iron Man shooting into him and knocking him off course.

"I'm listening," Loki said, like the asshole he was.

Isadora crept from behind the rock she built. "Very interesting conversation," she said to him.

"Ahh, the Woman Lost In Time. It was a very interesting conversation indeed," he replied.

"Why do you keep calling me that? The Woman Lost In Time?" she asked him.

"You are lost, are you not?" Loki answered. 

"No, I'm where I belong," Isadora answers quickly.

"Whatever was done to you, has changed you almost completely. Yet, how you seemed to possess more power than before never ceases to amaze me."

"I don't understand."

"Your regression is what I cannot understand," Loki replies, circling her and examining her top to bottom.

Isadora started to say something but was interrupted by the forest below the cliff shattering. A distinct and newly made clearing was in the middle of it all. Boys will be boys, she scoffed.

* * *

"Catch me if you can!" Isadora screamed as she manipulated the air to pass her father. 

"Five hundred dollars to the winner!" Tony yelled. 

At that, Isadora propelled herself faster. Tony saw this and acted immediately, telling Jarvis to charge up all the repulsors to 100%. He passed his daughter quickly. 

"You thought you were gonna win that easily? Pfft, maybe you're not a Stark after all."

Isadora scoffed and played with the winds, pushing him downward as she sped towards the SHIELD helicarrier that had recently come into view. 

"Nevermind," Tony said, trying to gain his balance again. 

Isadora pushed the winds off of him when she got enough distance between them. But she didn't see the jet crossing her path and ran into it headfirst. Tony took that chance to zoom past her. 

Isadora peeled herself off of the side of the jet and sped up, gaining quickly on her father. Tony started to land as soon as they got above the helicarrier but Isadora pushed him away with the winds and landed gracefully with a bow.

Tony's suit sputtered as he landed next to her, less than gracefully. 

"Cheater," he grumbled, but reluctantly handed her five hundred dollars.

"I won fair and square, you're just mad because I beat you," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. 

"Whatever. Wanna see where I keep my suit?" he asked. 

Isadora perked up even more if that was even possible. "Hells yeah!" she replied. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Isadora and her father finished catching up, Isadora had been able to go to her chambers and change back into the outfit she was wearing earlier. She had also been able to put on some makeup and fix her hair, putting it up into a messy bun. 

Isadora walked with her father and Coulson to the meeting room afterward, all of the conversation about sending Coulson on a trip and a replacement for the arc reactor in her father's chest.

"Iridium. what do they Iridium?" a voice asked.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Isadora answered, as all three of them entered the room. 

"I'm just saying, pick a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive." Tony was saying to Coulson. 

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD," Tony said, walking further into the room. Isadora took a seat next to Natasha and placed her feet up on the table. As she glanced around the table, she locked eyes with Steve and then quickly looked away as she felt a weird tugging sensation in her gut. 

"No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Tony said to Thor, tapping him on his bulging biceps as he passed him. 

"Also, it means that the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants," Isadora said, producing a pack of Sour Patch Kids from her pocket.

Tony walked over to Fury's set of computers and quickly inspected them, tapping the screens.

"Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails." Tony joked to all of the agents on computers.

Suddenly, he yelled out, "THAT MAN IS PLAYING GALAGA!" and pointed to the agent who was, in fact, playing Galaga.

"He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did," Tony said. 

Isadora giggled at her father's antics and continued to munch on her candies. She took no notice to the way Steve's head snapped her way when she giggled. 

"How does Fury even see these?" Tony said as he put a hand over his eye.

"He turns," Hill answered. 

"Sounds exhausting," Tony said. 

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high- energy density." Tony clipped something on one of the computers after configuring all of them to accept his invasion. 

"Something to kick-start the Cube," Isadora said. 

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked Tony snarkily. 

"Last night," he answered back, equally as snark as she. 

"The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" He asked.

Isadora shook her head and pointed to Dr. Banner. 

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked, taking no notice of the way Isadora's gaze snapped to his at his commandeering voice. 

"He'd have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break the Coulomb barrier." Dr. Banner said. 

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony said, walking to Dr. Banner. 

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Dr. Banner said. 

"Finally someone who speaks English," Tony said. 

"Is that what just happened?" Steve said, sounding completely confused.

Isadora giggled again at his ignorance but stopped as his gaze snapped to her, putting her head down and blushing. 

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster." Tony said, shaking Bruce's hand. 

Bruce was rendered speechless for a second before he recovered himself and replied his thanks. 

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you and your daughter might join him." Director Fury stated, appearing from nowhere. 

"I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve said. 

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube." Fury said. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor stated. 

"I DO! I understood that reference," Steve said proudly, causing Isadora to break into another fit of giggles.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony joked with Bruce.

"This way, sir."Bruce joked back, gesturing for Tony to follow him.

Isadora started to get up and follow them but was stopped by Director Fury. 

"I want you to show Captain Rogers to his quarters," he commanded. 

"Aye, Aye, Captain." Isadora joked. 

Fury scoffed and rolled his eye. "Like father, like daughter." 

Steve stood up and followed Isadora without a word as she walked the familiar route to the quarters. She was glad he didn't say anything to her because she knew she'd only end up becoming a stuttering mess. She picked up a random tablet from a passing agent along the way and looked for an open room. She audibly gasped when she realized that the only room available was the room next to hers. 

She played it off as a cough and walked a little faster. She realized her breathing had turned shallow with the thought of realizing that Steve Rogers was walking behind her and could very well be looking at her behind. 

She gathered herself as she passed her bedroom door. She stopped in front of the next door, the room that Steve would occupy. She handed him a  key-card and produced the universal key that she had. She opened the door for him and stepped aside. 

He started to go in before he stopped and looking into her eyes. They stared at each other for a second too long and Isadora gathered herself and started to walk away. When Steve, tentatively grabbed her shoulder suddenly, she stopped and turned back to him. 

He stared at her again before saying, "You look familiar." 

The words on her shoulder started to tingle and she could feel every letter. She paid no attention. 

"Well, I am Tony Stark's daughter," she replied. 

Steve quickly gasped and began to fall backward. Isadora grabbed his forearm quickly, as to keep him from falling. 

"Are you okay?" she asked him. 

"I'm more than okay, I'm ecstatic, but now I think we have a bit of a problem," he replied. 

 


	5. Soulmates

 

_ Recap _

_ "I'm more than okay, I'm ecstatic, but now I think we have a bit of a problem," he replied. _

~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isadora's skin tingled where Steve touched her and all the could feel was the pull to be near him. 

"What kind of problem?" she stuttered back to him.

"Well SHIELD need to have us on file and it could be let out on the interwebs, plus how are we going to tell your father?" Steve seemed to be worried.

Isadora reacted immediately, grabbing his arm and running her fingertips down his forearms. Steve visibly calmed down and stopped rambling.

"Look, everything will be okay. We're gonna have to take it slowly. I hardly know you or you I. So we can talk about it now or wait until later." she replied, calmly.

"Y-yea. I would like that. Your room or mine?" he asked.

"You can come to mine. Mine is more personalized." Isadora replied.

"Let me change then I'll be right over." Steve walked into his room and closed his door.

Isadora leaned against the door with her hand upon her heart. She sighed as she slid downwards on the door.

As her thoughts consumed her, she realized that her room was probably dirty, seeing as she hadn't been in it for a while.

"SHIT!" she whispered. Isadora shot up and quickly unlocked her door. When she got in, she immediately started cleaning up. She picked up her clothes she had streamed around on the floor, put all of her finished art canvasses in a stack on her messy desk, closed up all her open paint, and cleaned her paintbrushes.

By the time Steve had knocked on her door, she had begun sketching a new drawing in her sketchbook.

She placed her book down on her bed and walked to the door. When she finally placed her hand on the doorknob, she had to stop and take a deep breath.

Steve was about to knock again when she finally opened the door. He stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"Uh...hi," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Hey, she whispered, leaning against the door and smiling a little.

"C-Can I come in?" he asked.

She moved aside so he could venture into uncharted grounds.

Steve looked around her messy room in awe. "I like your room. It's beautiful," he said.

"Thank you," she whispered back.

Isadora closed her door and Steve stood weirdly in the middle of the room.

"You can sit if you'd like," Isadora said to him.

He cleared his throat and took a seat on her bed. He looked so out of place, his huge frame sitting on her small bed.

"Is all this art yours?" he asked, looking around again.

"Y-yea." she stuttered.

"What's your muse?" he asked, his eyes finally landing on her.

His gaze made her soulmark tingle. "My dreams. Every scene I can remember, I draw, paint, or sketch it out," she said.

"Your dreams are beautiful," he said.

She giggled. "Everything is beautiful to you, isn't it?"

"Not everything, just things that interest me. Like your laugh." His voice was serious.

"My laugh interests you?" she blushed.

"Yes. It's beautiful. Like the chiming of wind bells."

Isadora blushed furiously. "Thank you."

"So...what are we gonna do? About us?" he asked, sobering her up.

"Let's take it slow. Like we need to get to know each other first," she answered. Steve nodded.

"Can I paint while we talk?" she asked.

"It's your room." Steve clarified.

Isadora giggled, biting her lip when Steve's eyes snapped to hers.

She searched for her pencils and paints and set up her easel.

"So what do you do for fun?' she asked him.

"Well for the last 70 years, my hobby has been sleeping." he joked, bringing out another giggle from Isadora.

"I really like your laugh," he said.

Isadora peeked from behind her easel and grinned at him.

Steve grinned back, his dimples showing. "Before I went under, I really liked to draw. I'm not as good as you though," he answered.

"I've always been able to draw. It's like second nature," she said.

"Well, your years of practicing has done you well."

"Thank you." she blushed.

"What's your favorite color?" he asked her. 

"I like forest green and dark blue," she answered, "what about you?"

"Dark blue and red," he answered.

"What's your middle name?" she asked him.

"My middle name is Grant," he answered, looking down bashfully.

Isadora giggled at his adorableness. "Steve Grant Rogers. I like that," she said.

"What's your full name? Since you know mine."

Isadora grinned at him. "Isadora Camille Stark."

"I like that. It's beautiful," he said.

Isadora laughed. The tugging sensation in her gut intensified and a question brought itself out of her mouth.

"Do you feel that too?" she asked.

"Feel what?"

"It's like a tugging sensation in my gut. I've felt it ever since you locked eyes with me."

"OH! I feel that too. It's like my body's telling me to be closer to you." he said.

"So I'm not crazy. Phew!"

"When is your birthday?" he asked

"Oh um..January 1st." she answered.

"Mine is July 4th," he whispered.

"Such a patriot. Even born on America's day." she joked.

Steve laughed.

Isadora noticed the shape her painting was coming to and continued making it into her masterpiece.

"You know, I've never met a dame so creative like yourself.” Steve complimented.

Isadora found herself blushing for the nth time that night. "Thank you," she whispered. 

"I've never met a man like you," she whispered.

"Someone froze in time for 70 years?" Steve asked.

Isadora shook her head. "Someone with such a capacity for the unknown. Someone with heart," she said, licking her lips.

It was Steve's turn to blush. "No one's ever said that to me before," he said.

"Well, now they have." her eyes flicked to Steve's quietly, before they drifted back to her painting.

"I've never met someone like you either," Steve said.

"Someone with both daddy and mommy issues?" she asked.

"No. Someone who can be themselves in everything they do," he answered.

Isadora bit her lip. "You know, for a 90-year-old man, you're quite the charmer. I bet you had all the ladies back then." she joked.

"Oh no! That was Bucky. He made the dames swoon with just a smirk. I wished I could've been him." Steve answered, his voice slightly cracking on his friend's name.

"What happened to him? If you don't mind my asking." Isadora inquired.

"We were on a mission. He fell off a train on the side of a mountain." Steve answered, sadness rolling off him in waves.

"That's an awful way to die. I'm so sorry." Isadora said, sincerely.

****

Steve shrugged. "He was a good man." 

Isadora stared at Steve for a second before returning to her painting.

"Obviously he taught you a few things. You seem like a great person," she said.

Steve looked down at his shoes, blushing. "This is the umpteenth time you've made me blush," he said.

Isadora smiled. "Good."

Her painting was coming together nicely. She dipped her brush into a different color when someone knocked on the door.

"Yes?" she yelled out.

"Miss Stark, Fury had requested you join your father and Dr. Banner in the lab." someone said.

"Okay! Give me five minutes," she said.

"Yes ma'am," they said, the sound of footsteps following afterward.

Steve cleared his throat. "I think that's where I find my way out," he said.

Isadora smiled, placing down her paintbrush and the paint.

"At least give me a hug before you go," she whispered.

He seemed to have heard her and rushed towards her, He grabbed her up and spun her around. When he put her down, she smiled but had to hold on to his bicep to keep herself from falling.

"How's that for a hug?" he asked her

"Amazing." she grinned.

Steve walked to the door, opening it before stopping.

"I'm really glad I've finally found you," Steve said.

Isadora smiled. "Ditto."

She rushed towards Steve and hugged him again. When she pulled away, she kissed his cheek and stepped away.

"I'll see you later," she said.

Steve smiled and walked out the door. He stepped into his room and closed the door.

Isadora put a hand to her chest as if to calm her racing heart. She smiled at her finished painting and it's beauty. The picture was Steve watching the skies. She made sure to capture his eyes in a glittering blue.

She bit her lip at the painting and smiled again.

"Finally."

Questions

“You did what now?” Tony asked, incredulous. 

“I found my soul mate...with Steve,” Isadora said, finally wrapping her head around the situation.

“Yeah, I got that. But have you officially mated yet?” he asked. 

“What? What do you mean, officially mated? I thought you said each others’ words and then you’d be soul mates, forever.” Isadora asked, confused. 

“No, silly. Both mates have to participate in conscious sexual intercourse for the mating to be complete.” Tony said. 

Isadora gasped. She hadn’t known that it would go that far. She’d known that eventually sex would be entered into the equation of being mates, later on in the process, but not for it being a requirement. But it wasn’t like she feared sexual intercourse, yet she was a total virgin. Other than being kissed, she’d never done anything remotely sexual, and she was a spy for crying out loud. Isadora shook her head, trying to concentrate on her work.

Her father had given up on talking to her and struck up a conversation with Dr. Banner. 

“The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig’s reports of the Tesseract. But it’s gonna take weeks to process.” Banner said. 

“If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops.” Tony said, tapping at something on his computer. 

Isaora pulled out a bag of blueberries as Banner chuckled. 

“All I packed was a toothbrush.” he said. 

Tony walked over to them, near Loki’s scepter. 

“You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You’d love it. It’s Candy Land.” he offered.

“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem.” Banner said as he tapped something into a computer.

Isadora started to perk up as she notice her soul mate’s presence becoming closer. Tony walked closer to Dr. Banner as he talked to him. 

“Well, I promise a stress-free environment.” Tony said, walking behind him, “No tension, no surprises.” 

Tony then took a small shocker stick and sent a little volt through Dr. Banner’s side. 

Banner yelped, looking over at Tony, who looked into his eyes. 

“Hey!” Someone yelled, causing Isadora’s attention to be averted towards the alluring presence now in the room. 

“Nothing?” Tony asked Banner.

“Are you nuts?” Steve asked Tony, walking into the lab. He stood in front of Isadora and looked at Tony. 

“Jury’s out,” Tony joked. “You really have got a lid on it, haven’t you? What’s your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, a huge bag of weed?” he fired at Banner.

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve asked Tony. 

“Funny things are.” he answered.

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship, including your daughter and my soul mate, isn’t funny.” steve said. “No offence, Doc.” he added. 

“It’s all right, I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle pointy things.” Banner said. 

Isadora giggled at the underlying joke in that and got a look from both Dr. Banner and Steve. She noticed that Steve was still dressed in his Captain America suit. She bit her lip as his turned state gave her a perfect view at his astonishing ass. 

“You’re tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut.” Tony said. 

“And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.” Steve said.

“Do you think I’m not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us? I can’t do the equation unless I have all the variables.” Tony said. 

“You think Fury’s hiding something?” 

Tony walked over to isadora and stole some of her blueberries. 

“He’s a spy. Captain, he’s ‘the’ spy. His secrets have secrets. It’s bugging him, too. Isn’t it?” Tony turned the conversation over to Dr. Banner. 

“Uh...I just wanna finish my work here, and….” he trailed off. 

“Doctor?” steve asked, giving him a pointed look. 

Bruce looked over to Tony with an ‘i-hate-you’ stare. 

“‘A warm light for all mankind.’” he quoted. “Loki’s jab at Fury about the Cube.” 

“I heard it.” 

“Well, I think that was meant for you.” he answered, looking at Tony who offered him some of Isadora’s stolen blueberries. “Even if Barton didn’t tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news.”

“The Stark tower? That big, ugly…” steve trailed off when he got a pointed stare from Tony, “..building in New York?”  

Tony tried hard not to look insulted by Steve’s words, but it hit him close to him, quite literally. 

“It’s powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?” Banner said. 

“It’s just the prototype. We’re kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That’s what he’s getting at.” Tony clarified.

“So, why didn’t SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?” Bruce asked. 

“I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD’s secure files.”

Steve started to protest when Isadora shouted a loud, “I KNEW IT!”

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I’ll know every dirty secret SHIELD has tried to hide.” Tony said. “Blueberry?” he offered to Steve. 

“Yet you’re confused about why they didn’t want you around.” 

“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome.”

“I think Loki’s trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don’t stay focused, he’ll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them.” 

“Says the man who just found his soulmate less than an hour ago and keeps taking subtle glances at her.” Isadora muttered, to which she got three pointed looked towards her.

“Following’s not really my style.” Tony said, ignoring his daughter. 

“And you’re all about style, aren’t you?” Steve said. 

“Of the people of this room which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit and, B, not of use?” Tony replied. 

“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you.” Bruce asked. 

Steve looked at him and then paused. “Just find the cube.” he said, and walked off, but not without kissing Isadora’s forehead.

“That’s the guy my dad never shut up about? I’m wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice.” Tony said. 

Isadora fixed her Dad with a pointed stare ad he stuck out his tongue at her.

“He’s not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us.” Bruce said. 

“What he’s got is an Acme dynamite kit. It’s going to blow up in his face. And I’m going to be there when it does.” Tony said. 

“Yeah. I’ll read all about it.” Bruce said. 

“Or you’ll be suiting up with the rest of us.” Isadora said.

Bruce shook his head. “You see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed. Like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.” 

“You know, I’ve got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This stops it. This little circle of light, it’s part of me now, not just armor. It’s a terrible privilege.” Tony said. 

“My powers, they drain me more than a regular human. I have to sleep almost 12 hours to be at my best. This headband I wear, it provides me the extra energy I need to survive.” Isadora said, patting her forehead. 

“But you guys can control it.” Bruce said. 

“Because we learned how.” 

“It’s different.” 

“Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you.” Tony said. 

“So you’re saying that the Hulk...The other guy saved my life? That’s nice. It’s a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”

“Whatever Fate decided you were too important to die for.” Isadora said, popping a blueberry in her mouth.

“I guess we’ll find out what for.” Tony said. 

“You may not enjoy that.” 

“And you just might.” 

A chime alerted Isadora to the time. “Speaking of energy to survive. I gotta go recharge my headband.” she said, tapping her headband twice. It fell off her forehead and dropped into her hand. She made her way into the hallway, plugging in her headband right there.

Her phone buzzed and she quickly checked it. It was from her close friend, Leo Fitz. 

_ ‘How’s the helicarrier? I miss you!’  _ Isadora smiled at the text, deciding to call him while her headband was charging. 

The phone rang two or three times before he picked up. 

“Hello? No, Jemma-” Fitz’s scottish accent had always made Isadora smile. 

“Hey!” Isadora said. 

“What’s up? I hope they’re treating you well on the helicarrier, better than Jemma’s treating me right now.” Fitz said. 

“You guys are like an old married couple.” Isadora replied. 

Fitz snorted. “What ar you doin’?” he asked. 

“I’m charging my energy band, it’s that time, you know.” She said. 

“Oh, I forgot. I’ll be sending in a newer self charging version as soon as Simmons finishes checking it over.” 

“How is she?”

“She’s doing well, still naggy as usual.” 

“I can expect that.” 

“Was there any reason to why you called? I expected just a text back.” 

“Well, there is something I want to tell the both of you.” Isadora took a deep breath. 

“Let me put you on speaker.” 

“Okay, so I maybe, kinda, just found my soulmate.” she rushed it out, eager to tell someone. 

“AWW, Izzy I’m so happy for you!” she heard Simmons yell. 

“Yeah, me too! Who is it?” Fitz asked. 

“You’ll never guess.” Isadora said. 

“Exactly, that’s why I’ve asked who it is.” Fitz said. 

Isadora rolled her eyes. “It’s Captain America.” she said in a little voice. 

“CAPTAIN AMERICA?!” Fitz-Simmons said together as one. 

“Like, the Captain America? Born during the first World War, frozen in ice for 70 years Captain America?” Fitz asked. 

“The one and only.” Isadora smirked. 

“Are his biceps as huge as they are in pictures?” Jemma asked. 

Isadora could see Fitz rolling his eyes at Simmons. “They’re bigger.” 

She heard footsteps coming towards her and she looked up, seeing Steve himself.

Her headband beep, signalling its full charge and she pulled it out, placing it back on her forehead. 

“Well look, it’s been great talking to you two. But I’ve got a night full of research to do. So I’ll be sure to text.” Isadora said. 

She heard both Fitz and Simmons sad sighs. “We’ll see you. Bye Izzy!” Fitz said. 

“Bye!” she said, hanging up. 

Isadora made her way back into the lab. 

Her father and Dr. Banner were still researching and she made sure to dive back into it. 


	6. Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is my birthday!!! The 23rd! I'll be 18 kids. 
> 
> But I hope you like this!   
> Please review it, comment on what you like and don't like!  
> Also, when is your birthday? I wanna know!  
> [This chapter's word count is: 3136]

Isadora watched as her father and Dr. Banner stepped up to the screen. She saw a big red banner appear that Tony slid off the screen. 

“What was that?” she asked. 

“That was my virus that is still working through the system.” 

She nodded, looking back to her own tablet that was pinging into satellites. 

She wondered what Steve was doing and when he’d come to see her again. When her thoughts shifted from his sharp chin and big muscles to his tight ass, she tried to fight a blush creeping up from her neck. 

Tony looked at her inquisitively. “Why are you red?” 

She bit her lip and blushed more. “No reason.” 

Tony gasped and smirked, “Did something happen between you and Capsicle?” he asked.

“What! No!” she squeaked.

He broke out into a full grin. “Come on, tell Pops what happened.” he nudged her slightly. 

She glared at him, her face getting even redder. “Nothing, I was thinking about his ass, dad.” she blurted. 

Tony, surprised at her bluntness, shut up. “W-what?” 

“Yeah, she’s definitely your daughter. No filter at all.” Dr. Banner snickered. 

Tony was still shocked as Isadora pushed past him and walked to the screen they were looking at, swiping information from her tablet to the screen. 

Looking down to her tablet again, she turned around and sat back down at her little space. She watched as other information piled on the screen and let her mind wander again.

***

_ “Iz, we all know I’m not one to talk about my feelings. Hell, I don’t think any guy is. But when it comes to being honest with you, I’d tell you all of SHIELD’s secrets. Being with you these past five years has been the best time I’ve had in my ninety plus years. I never thought of having a life like this would lead to something as amazing as you are. I’m in love with you and you have my heart in your hands and me wrapped around your powerful fingertips.” _

_ Tears ran down my face and I feared to get my makeup smudged.  _

_ “Steve, --” _

_ “IZZY WAKE UP” _

_ ** _

Isadora shot up, her eyes and body coming into consciousness quickly. She got a headrush. “Huh, what?” she slurred, wiping the drool from the sides of her mouth. 

“We’ve got work to do, you can sleep later,” Tony said, poking her more as she dozed off again. 

Isadora shook her head, “No I don’t wanna,” she pouted. 

“I’ll go get your big strong soldier and he can wake you up,” Tony winked at her. 

Isadora shot up at his words and fixed her messy hair. “You would never,” 

Tony raised an eyebrow at her, “Don’t tempt me,” 

He went back to his screen, swiping and clicking at certain things. 

“What are you doing, Mr. Stark?” Fury asked, walking into the room. 

“Uh, kinda been wondering the same about you,” 

“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract,” 

“We are. The model’s locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within half a mile,” Banner said, and Isadora pointed to a screen behind Fury. 

Fury turned to look at the screen. 

“Yeah, you’ll get the cube back. No muss, no fuss,” Tony said.

The tablet in Isadora’s hands beeped, along with the screen in front of Tony and Banner. 

“What is Phase 2?” she asked. 

The sound of metal clanging against metal reverberated around the room. The smell of peppermint and leather wafted through Isadora’s nose. Her posture immediately straightened and she became more alert. Steve was in the room. 

“Phase two is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons,” He said. 

After glancing over to Isadora, as if making sure she was unharmed, he continued. “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me.” 

“Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we’re making --” Fury was cut off by Tony. 

“I’m sorry, Nick. What were you lying?” he said, turning his screen around to show the blueprints of a weapon built for the tesseract. 

Isadora nodded and turned her screen around to show Steve. 

“I was wrong, Director. The world hasn’t changed a bit.” Steve said. 

Natasha and Thor walked into the lab. 

“Did you know about this?” Banner asked Natasha and Isadora. 

Isadora shook her head while Natasha got defensive. 

“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” she asked, looking a little menacing. 

“Ha, I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.” Banner said, moving away from her. 

“Loki is manipulating you,” she said. 

“And you’ve been doing what, exactly?”

“You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” 

“And I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy,” he said, moving to the screen and turning it. “I’d like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.” 

The room was silent before Fury sighed. 

“Because of him,” he said, pointing at Thor. 

Thor furrowed his brow as if being confused actually hurt him. “Me?”

Isadora watched her father’s brow scrunch in consideration. 

“Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town,” Fury said, turning to look at all of them. 

Isadora tried to look understanding but also was trying harder not to concentrate on Steve’s presence in the room. 

“We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.” Fury said. 

“My people want nothing but peace with your planet,” Thor said indignantly. 

“But you’re not the only people out there, are you?” Fury said, “And you’re not the only threat. The world’s filling up with people who can’t be matched. They can’t be controlled.” 

“Like you ‘controlled’ the cube?” Steve said, causing Isadora’s eyes to snap to his face. 

“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it. And his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.” Thor said, stepping closer to Fury. 

“HIgher form?” Steve asked, confused. 

Isadora fought a smile but instead settled on a small smirk. 

“You forced our hand. We had to come up with some --” Fury started. 

“A nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down,” Tony interrupted. 

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?” 

“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in --” Steve tried. 

“Wait wait, hold on. How is this now about me?” 

“I’m sorry, isn’t everything?” 

“I thought humans were more evolved than this,” Thor said. 

Isadora could feel the tension rising in the room and she tried to get a hold of her fear of arguments as she listened on. 

“Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?” Fury attacked back. 

Everyone’s voices seemed to muddle together as Isadora tried to concentrate on something else. She stared at the scepter, watching as it seemed to glow a brighter blue. She felt like something bad was bound to happen soon. 

It was like a tingling sensation throughout her entire body. She stared at the scepter harder, hoping it wouldn’t be the cause of the disaster she could feel. She turned to Steve, hoping he could feel her anguish but he didn’t look at her, he continued his argument. 

She was about to scream for them to stop arguing when Banner started speaking. 

“It’s his MO, isn’t it? I mean, what are we? A team? No no no, we’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos.  We’re -- we’re a time bomb.” he said. 

Isadora watched as he moved closer and closer to the scepter, his hands almost reaching for it. 

“You need to step away.” Fury warned. 

“Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked, clapping Steve’s shoulder. 

“You know damn well why, back off!” Steve said, slapping Tony’s hand off his shoulder. 

Isadora’s body hummed at the sight of his anger and she fought to suppress that urge while dealing with another more important pressing matter.

“Well, I’m starting to want you to make me,” Tony said, staring at Steve. 

“Stop,” Isadora whispered, hoping they could hear her. 

“Yeah, a big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?” 

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” 

Isadora and Natasha both nodded in agreement. 

“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. Not the world, not the city, not even that beautiful woman you created over there,” Steve pointed to Isadora. 

She squeaked a little and felt her cheeks burn red. 

“You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.” 

“I think I would just cut the wire.”  

Steve smirked a little, looking over his shoulder. 

“Always a way out. You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero.” 

“A hero? Like you? You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle.” 

At those words, the tingling in Isadora’s body became more intense, as if the event she was dreading was getting nearer. 

“Put on the suit, let’s go a few rounds.” 

Thor laughed, “You people are so petty...and tiny.” 

“Yeah, this is a team.” Banner said. 

“Agent Romanoff, would you please escort Dr. Banner back to his --” 

“Where?” Banner interrupted, “You’re renting my room.” 

“The cell was just in --” 

“In case you needed to kill me, but you can’t. I know, I tried.” 

The room went silent, Isadora’s gaze shot to Banner and her respect for the man rose a few notches. Her heart ached to hug him and show him the love he needed. 

“I got low, I didn’t see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show,” He explained and everyone seemed to be defensive. 

Isadora didn’t understand why until she saw that he was reaching for the scepter. Everyone stood taller, their bodies stiff. 

“I put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?” 

Isadora stood as she watched his hand circle around the scepter and grab it tight. He didn’t seem to notice he grabbed it. 

She watched as both Natasha and Fury reached for their guns. 

“Dr. Banner,” Steve said, his voice full of commanding power. 

Isadora fought to keep her eyes locked on Banner. 

Banner looked to Isadora and then to Steve. 

“Put down the scepter.” 

Banner then realized he was holding the scepter when he stared down at his hand. His brow furrowed. 

The screens and Isadora’s tablet beeped simultaneously and everyone’s eyes snapped to them. 

Banner put down the scepter almost reluctantly. 

“Sorry kids, you don’t get to see my party trick after all,” he said, walking to the screen. 

The tingling had yet to stop for Isadora as Steve stared at her like he was assessing her wellbeing. 

“Located the tesseract?” Thor asked. 

“I can get there faster,” Tony said. 

“The power of the Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it,” Thor said. 

“You’re not going alone!” Steve said, grabbing Tony’s arm. 

“You gonna stop me?” Tony said, slapping his hand off his arm. 

“Put on the suit, let’s find out.” 

“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” 

“Put on the suit.” 

Isadora heard Banner whisper, “oh my god,” before she felt it. 

The tingling in her body stopped. She took a breath. Then it happened. 

The lab exploded. She felt as though she were seeing it in slow motion. She quickly threw a force field around herself as the explosion rang in her ears. She was thrown into a wall behind her. 

Her ears were ringing as she sat up, assessing the damage to the room and looking for Steve. 

He was across the lab with her father but quickly got up after locking eyes with her. 

She could hear an alarm baring but couldn’t get up. Steve ran over to her, picking up her small figure. He held her bridal style as they ran back to her father. 

“Put on the suit!” he yelled, and Tony got up. 

“Yep.”

They ran towards Tony’s suit. Isadora held onto Steve’s neck and tried to concentrate on what was happening. Yet, all she could concentrate on was Steve’s hands. One arm rested under her knees and the other around her back. His hands sent sparks throughout her body.

“Somebody’s gotta get outside and patch that engine!” Hill yelled through the comms. 

“Stark do you copy that?!” Fury called.

“I’m on it,” both Isadora and her father said. 

“I meant old Stark, not little Stark,” Fury corrected. 

Steve smirked. “Not this time, Doll.” 

He sat Isadora down on her feet, which gave her a chance to breathe and actually concentrate on the situation at hand. 

“Okay, you go with my dad, I’ll work on keeping the perimeter secure,” she said. 

She then tapped her headband and her clothes started to shimmer and then melt away into her battle suit. 

“Engine three, I’ll meet you there,” Tony said to Steve, who ran immediately. 

“Dad, be careful please,” Isadora said as she watched the container for his suit open. 

“Izzy, I should be telling you that,” he said. 

“Since when are we a normal family?” She asked, clapping his shoulder. 

She then ran off, looking around for people to help. 

There was a man lying on the ground with a piece of shrapnel in his leg. “H-help!” he screeched. 

Isadora grabbed the man, hauling him up by the shoulders and grabbed him by the arm. She wrapped his arm around his shoulder while she helped him walk. 

“I can’t take you all the way to the infirmary but I’ll get you somewhere that you can get help,” she explained to him. 

He nodded, his breath coming out ragged. “Thank you,” 

She nodded and brought him to an empty room and called for a doctor.

“There’s an agent with shrapnel in his leg, help him immediately!” she yelled and ran off again. 

Then there was a roar that reverberated throughout the whole helicarrier and Isadora knew that there would be big problems. 

“Fuck!” she yelled and ran towards the sound. 

She heard another roar and put all her energy into running towards it. 

“Izzy! Where are you going?” she heard, through the comms.

“To save Nat!” she yelled back. 

She kept running, her breaths coming out in short pants. 

She ran through wreckage that she was sure came from the Hulk. She finally heard his heavy breathing and she ran closer. She walked slower when she came to the scene of him standing over Natasha, ready to strike.

She thought fast and brought up a force field of ice. She pushed it towards the Hulk, pushing him away from Natasha. He struggled against it and she pushed harder until he was against a wall. 

Isadora froze him, sealing him to the wall up to his face.

“Nat, are you okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nat said, struggling to stand up. 

Isadora helped her stand up. “Are you sure?” she asked. 

“I’ve been worse,” Nat answered. 

“Alright,” 

Then there was a crack and ice shattered on the ground, the Hulk was getting bigger. The ice shattered around him and finally, his arm was free. Hulk used his arm to smash the ice around his other arm and free it too. 

“It’s time to run!” she yelled, speeding up.

Isadora wrapped her arms around Nat and kept her steady while she ran. There was a roar in the background as Hulk finally got himself free. He ran towards them but was stopped by a flying Thor. The force of Thor pushed them through a wall to the storage hangar.

Isadora smiled, “Thanks, Thor!”

She then grabbed on to Nat and pulled her back towards the medical unit. 

“Wait, wait! I need to sit down, I can’t breathe.” Nat screamed and Izzy found a hiding spot for them so she could catch a breath. 

“White lips, pale face. Breathing in the snowflakes. Burnt eyes, sour taste. Light’s gone, day’s end. Struggling to pay rent. Long nights, strange men.” Isadora started to sing

“What are you doing?” Nat asked. 

“And they say, she’s in the Class A Team, she’s stuck in her daydream, been this way since eighteen but lately, her face seems, slowly sinking, wasting, crumbling like pastries and they scream,”

“The worst things in life come free to us, cuz she’s just under the upper hand and goes mad for a couple of grams,” Nat sang along. 

“And she don’t wanna go outside,” Isadora sang. 

“Tonight,” They both finished. 

Nat felt her chest and stood up slowly without Isadora’s help. 

“I actually feel much better, thank you.” she smiled. 

“Not a problem sweets,” 

They turned around, ready to run away but Agent Barton was there, blocking their path. 

Natasha pulled away from Izzy and stood up herself. 

“MINI STARK, COME IN!” Fury called over the coms. 

“Yessir!” 

“We have an infiltration on all the upper levels, I need your help taking them out.” 

“I’m on it,” she said back and dropped her hand from her ear. 

Nat and Barton were eying each other warily. “Nat, you got this?” she asked. 

“Go,” Nat replied. 

Isadora smirked and flew up into the air, soaring to the upper levels of the helicarrier. 

She got one level up before she saw the attackers. Isadora cracked her neck and knuckles before letting loose a blast of air that knocked all the weapons out of their hands. She watched all of them turn to her in confusion. She smiled at them and then waved her hands and they were all frozen in ice. 

She flew up to the next level and watched as the attackers tortured workers and scientists. “Come on now, why is it always the innocent people?” 

She then wrapped all the attackers in vines and hung them from the ceiling. “They’re all thorns, so have fun ‘getting’ out of those,”

Izzy smiled and ran up the stairs to the next level. 

The soldiers were waiting for her then, spread out and unseen. She could feel them there. She sent out a gust of fire that burned controllably through the floor. When the flames receded, there were SHIELD agents checking the fallen enemies. She smiled and flashed finger guns at them before she went up to the next level. 

“Jesus Christ, how many intruders can there be?” 

She fought off the next batch of infiltrators with a wave of water. She watched as they coughed and choked on the water that was drowning them from the inside. She smiled at the other SHIELD agents and kept going. 

Getting to the last level was hard to get to since she could now physically feel the helicarrier falling out of the sky. 

The last wave of intruders stared her down as she stepped through the automatic doors. Their guns were trained on her and she shrugged her shoulders. 

The ship shook and she could feel it balance in the air again, rising as it did so. She idly wondered how Steve was for a second as the intruders still stared her down. 

“What the hell,” she shrugged. 

With a wave of her hand, she sent them flying in all different directions. All of them hit something hard enough to be knocked unconscious. She stacked all of them into a pile and blew another gust of wind that scattered them like bowling balls.

She cheered, checked her nails, and then made her way back down to the meeting area.


	7. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while, but I've been trying harder to update my stories. We'll see which story of mine will be updated next (AFW).  
> [Word Count: 2132]
> 
> Happy Reading!!!

When she reached the meeting area, Isadora could tell something was wrong. Thor, Bruce, and Natasha were missing. Steve and her father were sitting at the table looking sullen. Director Fury and Agent Hill were at the head of the table. On the table, there was a deck of cards covered in a red substance she immediately registered as blood.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

She missed the way Steve’s eyes were on her immediately as she stared at the cards. “Those are Phil’s cards, why are they --” She stopped.

Phil’s cards were covered in blood. They were his vintage set that he never let anyone come near. If they were sitting on the table -- covered in blood, nonetheless -- then something was wrong with Phil.

“Loki speared him during the fight,” Fury explained, his brows knitted.

A loud scream built itself up in her throat. She can feel the tears pricking at her eyes. Her father was gone. She knew Tony was her real father, and he was making up for missed time. But Phil had been there for her since she joined SHIELD. He was the man who raised her, took her in to be his daughter, trained her to be an amazing soldier. What was she going to do without her father?

She noticed Steve’s face then, his hand was on his chest like he could feel the pain she was feeling. Like it hurt him to see her like this.

She thought she was standing there forever, but in reality, it had only been a second.

“Oh,” she whispered and turned on her heel.

She made her way quickly to her room since most agents were dealing with the damage to the engines. When she entered her password, walked into the dark room an closed the door, she let out a choked sob. She had been holding it in since the moment she left the room. She dropped to her knees on the floor, holding herself. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. All the memories of her and Phil together as a two-person family filled her head.

_Isadora yelled in happiness. “You got me a car?!”_

_Phil shrugged. “I figured it was time for you to get one,”_

_She couldn’t contain her happiness, there was a bright ray of sunshine shining on them and Phil knew it was because of her. She circled the beautiful Jeep. It was a canary yellow 2012 Jeep Rubicon. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes when she saw the sunflower painted on the cover for the spare tire._

_“Dad...you know me so well,” she said, a hand covering her mouth._

_“I’ve only like known you since you were frickin nine,”_

_She surged forward, hugging Phil tightly. “I love you,”_

_“I love you more,” he said, hugging her back._

Her eyes were hurting. She wondered how long she was crying. She was still curled into a ball, longing to hear Phil’s voice or just for him to knock on her door and say it was a joke all along. That’s what she wanted. But what she wanted never came true. She sat in her room, staring at the blank easel and she suddenly got an idea. If she wasn’t going to be with Phil, she was gonna make sure she saw him every day.

She was getting all her shades of blue paint together when there was a knock on her door. Her brows furrowed, wondering who it was.

“Come in!” she yelled out.

The door opened, revealing Steve. She figured it was either him or her father, the only people who knew her room’s passcode. She acknowledged him with a nod and continued gathering her paints.

“Hey, doll,”

The pet name sent chills down her spine and suddenly she was craving Steve’s touch.

“Hi,” she said sheepishly after she got her paints all set up on the table next to her easel.

“What are you up to?”

“My latest painting,”

Steve hummed before he leaned back on the bed. He was changed out of his star-spangled suit and into cargo pants and a tight v-neck t-shirt. His shirt rode up as he drew his arms up behind his head. It took everything in her not to stare at his v-lines.

“W-what are you doing?” she asked.

“Relaxing,” he responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It was. He looked so serene. She shrugged and turned back to her easel. She imagined Phil’s smiling face as he told her a cheesy joke that he was so proud of. She imagined the lines on his forehead that he got whenever he scrunched up his eyebrows. She imagined the laugh lines around his eyes.  Tears threatened to drop from her eyes and she wiped them on her sleeve before sketching out the drawing.

Steve sat up. He was looking around when his eyes landed on her last painting. She wasn’t watching him, as she was fully concentrated on the sketch of Coulson. He walked over to the canvas that was lying at the top of a stack of others. He stared at his face, wondering how she had encased him in such beauty. He then wondered if that was vain.

“I drew that when we talked the other day,” she shrugged, noting him looking out the corner of her eye.

Steve startled and scanned her face. Then he looked at her hands. They were shaking. “You created this?” he asked, incredulous.

She shrugged and went back to her painting.

Steve had finally had enough of his holding back. He rushed forward as she was painting and hugged her from behind. She tensed in his muscular arms as he circled them around her tentatively.

“At any time do you want me to let go, please say so,” he whispered in her ear.

Isadora felt chills run down her spine. She placed her hand on his arms and relaxed into his touch. He held her tightly, securing her in his arms. He put his head in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent. As his nose brushed against her neck, Isadora felt something new ignite somewhere low in her belly. She didn’t know the feeling so she decided not to express it. But as Steve repeated his actions, she could feel the heat rising to her face. She wiggled his face away from her neck.

“Stop that,” she whispered.

He chuckled lightly, “You don’t like that?”

“N-no, it’s j-just d-different,” she stuttered. She was getting flustered and he knew it.

“Okay Doll, I’ll stop...for now,”

She huffed, red burning her cheeks and she was glad he was behind her. She moved forward, him coming with her and continued sketching her masterpiece. Steve watched quietly. She wiggled herself out of his arms and after his puppy dog face, she went to get him a chair to sit on.

He sat on the chair, hands sitting idly in his lap as he watched her. To her surprise, she was okay with him being around her while she was painting. Usually, nobody could sit around her it would disturb her peace. Not even Phil.

_Phil…_

Her mind had drifted too far and she snapped out of those thoughts before bringing up Phil’s mental image again. She didn’t realize she was holding Steve’s thumb until she brought her hand up to steady the easel. She snuck a look at him to catch his eyes already on hers. She bit her lip and went back to sketching, never letting go of his hand.

She stepped back after a while, looking at her work. Phil’s face had been perfectly sketched out and she was ready to start the painting process. As she picked up the blue paints, she let go of Steve’s hand and he stood up. She turned to him, a question in her eyes before she realized she’d smeared blue paint on his arm. His eyes followed hers down to his arm. He looked back at her and tutted playfully. “Always so messy,” he said.

She smiled, “I’m painting, what did you expect?”

He shrugged and went into her kitchen. “What do you want for lunch?” he asked.

“Whatever you make.”

She didn’t hear a reply to this so she started painting over her drawing. She planned to erase the pencil strokes if they showed through the paint when she was done. She heard the clanging of a pot on the stove and the hum of some song.

Isadora paused in her painting and grabbed her phone. After making sure it was connected to the Bluetooth speaker she had somewhere in her room, she pressed play. After hearing a Beatles song coming through her speaker, she continued her painting. Steve was still cooking when she finished her first coat of blue (she was taking her time on this painting) and was singing along to the Frank Sinatra song from her playlist. She recognized the song, _Somebody Loves Me._ She also recognized Steve’s voice singing the song in the kitchen. She swore she almost swooned. She stepped into the kitchen, leaning on the island in front, watching him sing as he cooked.

“Somebody loves me, I wonder who, I wonder who she can be?” Steve sang, wiggling his hips as he flipped the burger in the pan.

 

“Somebody loves me, I wish I knew, who she can be worries me,”

 

“For every girl who passes me, I shout, hey! maybe

You were meant to be my loving baby,” he sang and turned around to see her standing there with a smile on her face.

 

“Somebody loves me, I wonder who, maybe it's you,” he sang, pointing to her on the last word.

 

She clapped for him, giggling as he bowed and caught invisible flowers. She smiled brightly and walked over to him. He was wearing her apron with the words, “Kiss the Cook,” on the front. It was way too small for him but he wore it proudly.

 

She gave him a small hug and handed him a flower that she grew out of her hand. He kissed her forehead lightly and turned to the pan, flipping the other patty.

 

“For some reason, I assumed you didn’t eat meat so I made veggie burgers,” Steve said, his hand going to the back of his neck.

 

“I don’t eat meat, so your assumption was correct,” she didn’t know she was craving veggie burgers until now.

 

They smelled delicious and wafted through the suite with a devilish scent.

“Where do you wanna eat?” she asked.

 

“In between your thighs,” he mumbled quietly.

 

“What was that?” she asked, genuinely confused.

 

“Wherever you want, Doll,” he said back.

 

She nodded and pulled out plates and grabbed the toppings from the fridge. Steve cleared his throat as she worked around him. He was still nervous she’d heard his innapropriate comment. It was obvious she hadn’t. She hummed to the Glenn Miller song that was playing as she sat down everything around the island and sat down on the stool, waiting for him to finish.

 

He placed the patties on a bigger plate and finally turned around, confident his hard-on was gone.

*****

“What’s Netflix?” he asked.

 

“Basically an online movie streaming website,” she said after staring at him incredulously.

 

“I’m confused,” he said, his eyebrows furrowed.

 

“A bunch of movies and tv shows are all packed on one website, and you can watch them,” she said.

 

“Oh!” he said, understanding.

 

She hoped he understood, because explaining things like that was gonna be hard.

 

The two of them sat on her bed while she scrolled through Netflix looking for a movie to watch. She really just wanted Steve to cuddle her but she didn’t want to outright say it. After deciding on _Limitless,_ she laid down to watch it. Steve sat idly, his hands in his lap again. He looked like he was thinking hard about something.

 

Isadora wasn’t really watching the movie as she was thinking about asking Steve to lay down with her. She was trying to think of the words to say that wouldn’t make the ninety (plus) year old blush deeply. As soon as she thought she’d found the right words, he spoke up.

 

“Can I lay...with you?” Steve asked quietly.

 

He said it so low that she almost missed it. But she turned to him and smiled softly. “Come here, big boy.”

She held her arms out and he laid himself on top of her, his head under her chin and the rest of his body covering hers. She pulled the duvet over them and turned back to the movie.

 

“I’m a man, not a big boy,” he grumbled.

 

“Right now, you’re being a big baby,” she said, her hands scratching his head.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're a dedicated reader and would like updates when I post or there's an update in progress, please follow my Instagram!!!!  
> The handle is @peepmywriting, the same as my pen name. I post on there every time I'm editing a chapter of any of my stories!!!


End file.
